Metered postage is a significant source of revenue for the United States Postal Service (USPS). Metered postage is generated by utilizing postage meters that print a special mark, also known as postal indicia, on mail pieces. Generally, printing postage or any value-bearing items (VBI) may be accomplished with mechanical meters or computer-based systems.
With respect to computer-based postage processing systems, the USPS under the information-based indicia program (IBIP) has published specifications for IBIP postage meters. The IBIP involves the development of new technology to produce new forms of postage. In so-called PC postage systems, a user can purchase postage credit, and print the postage in the form of PC postage onto a label or directly onto a mail piece. The PC postage includes a human readable portion, an indicia graphic and a two dimensional barcode portion. The human readable portion includes the postage value, mail class, the date, the meter number, the licensing post office that a user registered with, an optional logo and optionally also the destination zip code (required for business courtesy mail pieces.) The barcode portion is intended to help thwart fraud, and includes information about the mail piece including the destination ZIP code, the amount of postage applied, the date and time the postage was applied, the meter number and a digital signature so that the USPS can validate the authenticity of the postage.
The USPS mail automation process utilizes various scanning machines when sorting the mail. Therefore, postage indicia must be printed in a prescribed manner to permit the mail handling and optical reading equipment to properly interpret the PC postage and addressee information. Indeed, the USPS has established strict guidelines directed to the margins, label sizes, and placement of the postage indicia, as well as the size, placement, and other characteristics of the POSTNET (POStal Numeric Encoding Technique) bar codes, and any facing identification mark (FIM) on mail pieces. These guidelines are contained in the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) and Title 39, Code of Federal Register (CFR), Part 111, and USPS Publication No. 25 “Designing Letter Mail”.
The scanning machines that the USPS utilizes have exacting standards for printed postal indicia. The postal indicia must be placed in the proper location on media in order for it to be read by the scanner. The various media types and sizes available to the user make this task difficult. This is a result of the different physical dimensions of the various media. The placement of the postal indicia is different with each different type and size of media. Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a method and system for printing postal indicia on custom sized envelopes.